Obama: GOP 'playing games'

President Barack Obama on Saturday lashed Republicans for blocking his nominee to head a new consumer protection agency and “playing games” on a proposal to extend the payroll tax cut.

In his weekly radio and Internet address, Obama stuck the same populist notes as his speech earlier this week in Osawatomie, Kan., casting the two initiatives as ones of fundamental fairness.

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Obama said Richard Cordray, his nominee to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, would “protect American families from being taken advantage of by mortgage lenders, payday lenders and debt collectors.”

Senate Republicans blocked the nomination this week, saying the administration must first accept some changes to the Wall Street reform law that created the consumer protection agency.

Obama said the Republican stance “doesn’t make any sense.”

“Do Republicans in Congress think our financial crisis was caused by too much oversight of mortgage lenders or debt collectors? Of course not,” Obama said. “And every day America has to wait for a new consumer protection watchdog is another day that dishonest businesses can target and take advantage of students, seniors and service members.”

“So I refuse to take ‘no’ for an answer,” Obama said. “Financial institutions have plenty of high-powered lawyers and lobbyists looking out for them. It’s time consumers had someone on their side.”

Obama has not ruled out circumventing Congress and seating Cordray as a recess appointment.

The president also called on Republicans to extend the payroll tax cut, which is set to expire Dec. 31.

“Congress can’t end the year by taking money out of the pockets of working Americans. Now is not the time for playing politics. Now is the time to do what’s right for the American people,” Obama said. “No one should go home for the holidays until we get this done. So tell your members of Congress, don’t be a Grinch.”

The House is set to vote next week on a bill that would extend the payroll tax cut and unemployment insurance benefits, but also hasten approval of the Keystone XL pipeline, which the administration has delayed while it conducts further study. Republicans attached the pipeline measure to the bill as a way to win over more GOP support.

But Obama has threatened to veto the package.

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) on Saturday defended his decision to attach the Keystone energy project to the payroll tax cut bill, saying it would create tens of thousands of jobs and reduce dependence on foreign oil.

“This is no time for the same-old my-way-or-the-highway theatrics. It’s no secret that Democrats and Republicans often disagree about the best way to create jobs, but we can’t let those disagreements prevent us from acting when we agree,” Boehner said in the Republican weekly address. “There’s bipartisan support for extending payroll tax relief and unemployment benefits. There’s bipartisan support for tax incentives that allow employers to invest and expand. And there’s bipartisan support for the Keystone energy project. We should get these things done.”